"Yeah," I said softly. "I'm sorry for pissing myself here on the couch. But I'm even sorrier that I've been worthless to you ladies when you needed me."
"Mason," she answered, like a mother trying to comfort a small child. That was what I had been reduced to, a small child.
"Thank you for taking care of them," I told her, trying not to let my unbearable sadness show in my voice.
"Don't be," she quickly responded.
"What?"
Bianka came up to my sofa and sat on the arm that was nearest my head. I turned to look at her the best that I could, but I still couldn't make out any details. After the crazy dreams that I had, that was not comforting. Part me expected that her face would be distorted and wicked. My brain had been fucking with me for too long.
"I was knocked out, too," Bianka then said as she placed her hand on my head. Her fingers brushed through my dirty sticky hair. I instinctively pulled away. "So, was Jada. But you are the last one to come out of it. The girls are going to be so happy. We need to wake them."
"No!" I said louder than I planned. I felt Jada's hand release my ankle as I watched Riley stir awake. "I don't want them to see me..."
"Mason?" Riley said as she rubbed her eyes. "Are you finally awake?"
The reunion with my women as they all woke up was much nicer than I deserved. They lit two lanterns so I could see that their affection for me was still genuine. But that only made me more embarrassed.
I received fierce hugs and firm kisses from all of them, even Bianka. When I insisted on getting myself and the sofa cleaned up, they were determined to do it for me. I tried to fight them off, but their happiness to see me out of the coma was overwhelming. I wasn't even permitted to wipe my own balls and ass crack clean.
I tried to settle in as they told me the story of what had happened. My embarrassment faded away as I listened intently on what I had missed.
Mister Skull had some kind of kinetic power that could knock people and objects around. He and his band of mutants devastated our colony's inhabitants, scattering them from the compound. It wasn't until the day after that these fine women had all found each other. Stella, Alexa and Riley carried our limp bodies to a safe distance. Any other followers, reborn or otherwise, went searching for more survivors but never returned.
After Jada and Bianka came out of their comas they guided our small group to this house. None of them had any idea that I had been here before. Or was experiencing an alternate reality dream focused on the place. They both suffered through weird dreams that involved their past, but those details faded quickly after they woke up. They surmised that the mutant leader’s power extended to the mental activity that his victims would experience while unconscious.
We were pretty much starting over. All the work we did to fortify our place did us no good. Word was that Mister Skull had settled into our house and had the compound guarded by a dozen or more people, all assumed to be mutants. That wasn't a large force, though. Just like with the Coalition, the larger your territory the harder it was to protect it.
The women listened attentively as I shared parts of my dream with them. I left out the orgy at the end and made no mention of alternate Bianka's behavior. It wasn't until I was almost done with my story that I remembered that her and I were having problems before the mutant attack.
"Are we okay?" I asked her. I wanted to do so privately, but the girls were constantly swarming around me. I probably wouldn't get any privacy anytime soon.
"Yeah, Mason," Bianka answered with a wave of her hand. "That's all in the past. Don't fret none about it."
"Fret?" I asked.
"Yeah," she giggled. "That's a new word I learned from Stella. She said that she had been fretting over the three of us until we all came out of our comas."
Well, I had plenty of fretting to do, but at least it wouldn’t need to be over my complicated relationship with Bianka.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
We were indeed in the Norcross Way house that I remembered. It hadn't magically been transported to a neighborhood closer to our most recent home. And we were decidedly not in an alternate reality. In this case, reality just sucked more than I was accustomed.
We had suffered casualties before and were able to move on. But we always won the battle. We had been chased from our home before as well. In all cases, though, we ended up somewhere better. Our newest situation was without a doubt the biggest setback that I had experienced since Alexa and I had met.
The question was what should we do about it?
We were all tired. Physically, emotionally, and in any other way that you could consider. That allowed each and every one of us to toy with the idea of being content with what little we had.
The house was in good condition. It could easily accommodate the six of us. Adding more friends would have limits. Without a fence around the yard we would have to fortify the building itself to provide security against attack. That was a big step backwards.
We could start another farm in the backyard. Until crops started producing, we would have to forage throughout the neighborhood. However, any garden could easily get trampled or eaten by deer and rabbits.
We had plenty of weapons, ammunition, and the communication devices. In some ways we were much better off than just a few weeks ago. But we were used to having so much more.
This new place was only a block away from New Hampshire Avenue. That was a serious concern. Our whereabouts would surely be discovered by anyone in search of us, or even random travelers passing through. A high level of stealth and security would be needed to settle down in this location for good.
We missed our friends more than the things we possessed. We knew dozens of women personally, which would have been an unbelievable thought just months ago. But losing loved ones was something that all of us had experienced before.
In this trashy zombie-riddled world, just having your own place was nice. We should be thankful that we didn’t have to live in the woods or a building that was completely run down. The problem was that we had gotten used to the last house and the expanded territory around it. It felt like ours. Staying in this new place would take some time to reach that level of comfort.
"Should we put it to a vote?" I asked.
Stella shook her head. "No, I thought that we let you make the decisions that are best for us, after hearing our opinions on the matter. We've provided enough input. I’m personally good with whatever you decide."
"Me, too," Riley added.
Then there were nods all around the room. I was afraid that was going to happen. My recent physical limitations combined with the mind fuck that I had received from Mister Skull had me reluctant to force my will on others. That was never really my style, but being the lone person making the decision for the group was essentially that. A monarchy.
"Then, I have decided," I announced. "I choose that we put it to a vote."
"What?" Alexa was the first to object. "That's not a decision."
"Sure, it is," I stood my ground. If you tell me to make the decision, you’ll have to accept it, too.
"Can he do that?" Stella asked Bianka.
Bianka nodded before saying, "He can, and he did. And I, for one, support it. Mason will always be our leader, but he did just come out of a coma. I think that it is best that we don’t put this burden of choice on him right now. We either vote or we wait a few days before he's comfortable with making a decision."
"No!" Jada responded immediately. "I don't want to wait. Either we start making this place our home or we start planning our next move. I don't want to live in limbo anymore."
There was more discussion on the topic, but eventually everyone agreed to cast their own vote. We came up with a few options to consider.
Number one, the path of least resistance was to stay here. Fix it up, board it up, and develop a way providing for ourselves without drawing unwanted attention. We could always go searching for our friends later, assuming that they could survive this retched world with
out us.
Option two was to find a totally new place, away from the main road, where we could settle down and be happy. I had to believe that there were still plenty of homes that could accommodate that plan within a half day’s walk. We would just have to search for them. Given recent developments in our neighborhood, moving a distance away might be a good idea.
The third choice was to fight. Go back and retake our old compound. Kill or chase off any opposition. Gather back together as many of our clan as possible and continue the way we had for as long as we could.
Based on our discussion I believed that the vote could legitimately go in any of the three directions. Though I personally preferred to take back what we had lost, I was careful not to push that idea over the others. I wanted them each to think for themselves. I also was not willing to make that choice for everyone, risking their lives once again.
I had a feeling how each person might vote, but with some personalities being stronger than others, I decided on handwritten ballots. I didn't want Stella in particular to be coerced into voting differently than she believed. But for the sake of discussion afterwards, I requested that they put their names on the sheet of paper along with their choice of one, two, or three.
I gathered the girl's ballots and placed them in front of me. There was no need for shuffling since each vote would be identifiable. I put mine on top to be read first. Then Stella's, because I figured that she would vote against me. The same was true of Alexa, so her vote went third.
"My vote is to go back and claim what is ours," I announced as I unfolded mine. "We built that place up and drew all those people to us. I just can't walk away from that." I felt like I was talking to the camera at tribal council, explaining my vote to the viewers. I studied the beautiful faces around me and found no hint of surprise over my choice.
I opened Stella's next and was shocked to find the number three. The same vote as me. Maybe she misunderstood. I pulled up my jaw as asked her, "Stella, did you mean to vote for battle? You wrote a three on your ballot."
"Yes," she replied. This time there were some surprised looks. "That house is where I became your wife. Where you, Alexa and Riley taught me how to be a real woman. Where I learned to do, um, a lot of things that I never thought that I would do. I want it back."
There were a few chuckles from the group but overall, it looked like she earned some respect with her comment. I did not get the feeling that she had been manipulated to choose the third option.
Alexa's was next. Once again, I was shocked to see the three. "Alexa?"
"I feel much the same as Stella, but for different reasons. You and I had good times before that house. Before Riley or Stella became your wives, too. I know that we will be fine wherever we go. Whatever happens. But someone took what was ours. And that makes me angry. Not in a selfish way, either. In fact, I'm so upset about it because some very good people worked extremely hard to build up our colony. We had a very good thing going, and our people deserved it. I don't need it personally, but if there is a good chance that we can get it back, we have to try."
"I don't know if there is a good chance," Jada said.
"Let me save you the trouble of reading the remaining votes," Riley spoke up. "I voted for option three, too. It would shock the shit out of me if Jada and Bianka didn't. So, you see, we all agree with you, Mason. You could have just decided for us."
"It is true," Bianka responded. "But under the circumstances, I personally appreciate you calling for a vote. Plus, this way we all know that we came to this difficult decision together. We are all in."
I nodded as I let those words sink in. The women gathered around me all stared at me as I did. Either they expected me to speak next or they were examining my emotional state. If only they knew the thoughts that I was having just recently they would have cause for concern. Fortunately, much of that depression was now absent.
"I must honestly say that this decision is putting our lives in danger much more so than any other that we, or I, have made."
"Really?" Stella asked. "For the last few months, I feel like I have been living on the edge."
"I know what you mean," Jada said to my innocent looking wife. "But most of the drama that we have experienced came looking for us. Other than getting involved with the skanks or the zombies, this is the first time that we go looking for trouble. This is the only time that we are the aggressor, the attacker."
"Well," Alexa said as she rose up, done with the meeting. "That place belongs to us, so I don't really see it that way."
"I agree with you there," Riley answered. The others chirped in, but I was still thinking about what Jada said. We were not used to being in this position. Our skills and experience lent more toward the defensive stance. Or did they?
My deflection combined with Stella's sure shot was a great attack combo. Bianka's stealth and Alexa's extra sense could work very well for sneaking up on guards. Jada's animal control and Riley's speed burst were well suited for aggression. Maybe we would be even better as the invaders instead of the invaded.
That line of thinking made me wonder about Ling. No one had seen her since the attack on our compound. Alexa and Stella both told stories of her phantoms racing through the air scaring the shit out of everybody. Unfortunately, it was unknown if she had survived the ordeal.
The same was true of Jamila and most of the other reborn women. Though many fired their weapons at the invaders, a bunch of them reportedly scattered. Whether they were seeking cover for the fight or fleeing, it was not clear to those that had witnessed it.
Major Sutherly was believed dead, her body charred by a fireball mutant. The same happened to a dozen others. But the total casualty count couldn't even be guessed at. Despite our preparations, Mister Skull and his gang sent our colony into chaos.
No one had spotted Celeste during the attack. She either ran or died like the rest of them we assumed. It was just kind of suspicious that she arrived at our colony the morning of the attack.
Bianka and Jada were knocked out early, like me. Most of the account of how things went down came from Alexa, Stella and Riley. The way that they were dealing with the loss varied based on their personalities. Surprisingly, Riley took it the hardest.
"I should have been able to do more for your people, Mason," she explained, near tears. I hadn't seen her like that since the day that I asked her to be my second wife. "Our people. They counted on me and I essentially failed them."
"We all did," I said in an attempt to comfort her.
"I was awake and uninjured. I don't have an excuse. I tried to get them organized. They usually listen to me, but not then. Word of our three strongest people going down in battle sent a shock wave through our camp that I was unable to counteract. I'm so sorry, Mason."
I didn't know what else to say. I was certain that she had done her best. She always did, at everything. Seeing the series of events through her eyes sent a wash of fear over me that I hadn't experienced in some time. Not the fear that moves you to action in the heat of battle. It was the dread that sat in your stomach as you sat there just thinking about things.
I was lucky to be reunited with my core group of women. My three wives and my two most intimidating warriors. Should I really risk their lives by going back?
Even if I changed my mind, they all voted to attack and reclaim our former home. Did they do that just to agree with me? Or did they really see that as the best option?
I couldn't know for sure. I took a while to think about it as I patrolled our neighborhood with Jada for a few hours. We wanted to make sure that our temporary residence was secure before we focused on our old compound. By the end of the shift I decided to leave things be. We'll go through with the attack plans, assuming our recon planned for the next day showed an opportunity for success.
Maybe we could legitimately get our lives back. Or we might just go down in a blaze of glory.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
"I'm on patrol," Bianka's voice came through the limite
d purpose cell phone clipped to my belt. "You two can get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."
Darkness was falling on the quiet cul-de-sac and the cat-like blonde's night vision made her best suited for the late shift. She refused offers of assistance, letting everyone else get some rest before we start doing our recon on our old compound. She herself would get a few hours of shut eye then meet up with us later.
Jada approached me in the twilight instead of heading directly back to the house. We remained separated during most of our dual patrol shift, covering more ground. I figured she just wanted to talk about things before we head off to bed.
Like Bianka said, tomorrow was going to be a big day. There were plenty of concerns that needed to be discussed. Tactics, approach paths, and the like. Scenarios of how to react if we get spotted. We were planners and took this scheduled maneuver very seriously. But I figured what hadn't been covered so far could be discussed on the trek there. It would take us nearly an hour to get there, sneaking from cover to cover in the daylight.
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